I concur with riding at sweet spot, while not strictly sweet spot I do notice a difference when riding with my regular bunch on Saturdays, am sticking with the fast guys for longer and not totally smashed at the end

And surely this is part of the whole point of training Been said a hundred times but FTP isn’t everything! Good work @chappo - keep it up

For me (everything low volume and been riding faorly constantly for about 4 years but without TR) at start of ss base 1 - 275W. At end of base 1 - 278w…and like you bit disappointed…but then did as base 2 and ftp jumped up to 291w (and I also hit a diet at same time and lost about 15lb/6.5kg over the 12 weeks).

Keep the faith (and more importantly the consistency!) and gains will come.

@chappo i had similar results to yourself, to be honest I wasnt expecting the large increase you thought off (>40W) from previous FTP after completing SSBLV1, however I did find the increase of 14W as a bonus…I was expecting the first six weeks to be a starting point to learn how to train on the turbo pushing some boundaries on pain etc. anyway I went from 198 to 212 after SSBLV1 and I’ll take that increase again or maybe I’m expecting a little more with these high VO2max intervals in SSBLV2…

Just completed my 2nd ramp here at TR as part of the mid volume build plan. FTP Increased 6% or 18W (in 4 weeks) which I think is huge! Perhaps too much for the next block but, I have to try. Thank you TR. Really guys, if anyone reads this stuff you’ve taught this old dog a new trick!

Getting the easy gains for now I’m sure and no doubt improving on the test but still pretty happy so far.

This is all on a Cyclops Magneto with Virtual power so who knows on accuracy… It feels precise at least which is the main thing. For no good reason other than geeky curiosity i’m dying to know how accurate it is but not sure I can justify dropping several hundred quid on a PM to find out just yet

Anyway, be nice to try and get to 4 (virtual) Watts/Kg by summer and see where I can get to from there…

I don’t know how the Sweet spot LV2 are, but I’ve looked at what I have coming up, the Sweet Spot MidVol 2, and if my FTP had gone up 20W, … looking at MidVol 2 with even nastier workouts than Eclipse (just did it today) … I’d be in pain.

I trained a lot for a 160km ride in London, not a race but wanted to set a personal goal. I got into trainer road shortly afterwards and purchased a power meter after listening to the podcast a couple of times and watching the video. My FTP was 313w, not bad but as I weigh 125kg it’s not the best ratio. I’ve had a few weeks off and dropped down to 277W on my FTP, also put on another 4kg… however I’m now starting a month of sweetspot workouts, fitting them in where I can and will start a plan just before Christmas.

My biggest gains will come from dropping some weight, my current aim is 120kg and will then push for 115kg and 110kg. I’ve always been a big build, that owes from being 6’ 8” and playing rugby. Loving the app and the podcasts are excellent for staying motivated

Finished sweet spot low wolume today.
This is the first time I used a retest to increase fto. Usually I would just increase by how I feelt and was able to do, which meant 2-3 watt every week. With this approach I think I was training to hard, as I got sick alot. I reached 225 that way last winter with a bit more on and off training during the winter. Ans the sweet spot sessions where really hard, mentally and physically.

Thanks to the ramp test I know feel more motivated to test. Had my second test today(third total) and went from 199-208. Which seems right. I did one of the simpler 1 hour sweet spot sessions right after and my legs felt great. The sweet spot sessions actually feel like sweet spot, so im very happy with the test.
Maybe I could have gotten 210by doing a better test, but dont think I did the test badly. My legs just could not spinn anymore. It just got to heavy. My lungs however could have keept going a couple of minutes longer im sure. I only reached a puls off 190. 200 is my max for cycling.

I think my endurance is better than my strenght. Whch affect my ramp test result. It does makes sense though, as sweet spot is for endurance mainly, and not to increase the max strenght? Isnt that the purpose of the build phase?

First thing is that I think my brain gave up before my legs. I thought wrongly that after 19:30 in ramp test, I would have gained few percent of FTP. It gave me an excuse to stop the pain.

Second thing is that I did the test today (it was due tomorrow) because I’m getting sick and tomorrow will be worse.

I gave me two extra watts because of this and to pretend I had a 1% increase…

Coming from three seasons of very high volume and weekly TSS, peaking at 299W for 64 kg in 2017 (4.67 W/Kg), followed by a burnout witch led to months of de-training, low volume may be too little stress to expect gains.

I could be disappointed, but I value the fact that I train consistently and can maintain my level to a point I can have fun with friends next season (despite been crushed by fatigue of having a baby just when the good weather comes in Europe). And who knows, maybe the gains will come with the General build I start this week !

Re. exercising hard being sick can backfire quite a bit. It would be good to get well before doing anything like FTP test. This strain most likely robbed a good chance of body fighting the sickness naturally, and, probably, did not result in the best FTP score.

19 point/watt increase. Very pleased with that. I could tell that I was progressing during the six week block and felt pretty confident as I swung my leg over the bike this morning. That said, I did come to a spectacular halt when the watts hit 396! That’s ground I’m not ready for just yet.

i’m doing a ramp test today as I formally go into ssb1, I’m hoping I can break even at 275 (I’ve been training with the ftp for awhile, although my ramp tests have never gotten me there), not really envisioning any improvements but I can always hope. the ramp tests do psyche me out a bit so I may be disappointed in my performance again! lol

After two months back into TR training which included Sweet Spot Base - Low Volume I followed by two weeks of SSB - LVII, my FTP improved by 10 watts from 136 to 146 (2.65). Just the fact that at 59, after two months of really not a lot of training, it went up - well, I’m pretty pleased!

Just finished SSBLV1, retested last week with zero gain (FTP stayed at 250w, same as at the start), but I felt like I didn’t “have it” that day, so pushed back the start of SSBLV2 a week to just ride (also I got a new smart resistance unit for my InsideRide rollers that I was working out the kinks on).

Took a Ramp Test this morning - 257w, so small gain, but I feel good about the result and I’m motivated for SSBLV2…

Well, I didn’t do the ramp test, instead I tried a MAP ramp test developed by Dr. Stephen Lane (and posted for zwift by Shane Miller/gplama). And according to this my ftp is 260 (couldn’t get completely through the 325w step). I really don’t get myself lol I have no problems whatsoever getting through workouts with a 275w ftp. Last week for example I did ainslie, 4x4min @ 105% and I likely could have done more, and I haven’t had any issues with any of the sweet spot workouts I’ve done recently. I’m going to stick with 275 for the time being as I start SSB1 but I’ll be prepared to adjust if the quality of the workouts decrease